Hitchhiking
by Kazzy
Summary: Jondy meets a notsostranger on the road. AU Companion to ‘Freedom of the Sky’ Part two added.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Hitchhiking

Title: Hitchhiking

Author: Kazzy

Email: [kazzy@whoever.com][1]

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Cold Comfort

Summary: Jondy meets a not-so-stranger on the road. *AU* (Companion to 'You never Know' [Roma story])

Disclaimer: I don't own Zack, Max, Jondy, Lydecker or Brin. Wish I did, but as my mum says 'life isn't fair'. So don't sue, coz if life were fair I would have created these loverly characters myself and I would be very rich; as it is, I didn't and I'm not. Roma is mine, and she ain't making money either. I babble too much.

A/N: This story was written before I saw 'The Kids Are Aiight', so everything about Jondy comes out of my own twisted brain (I still don't own her tho'). Background on Manticore shouldn't go any further than 'Cold Comfort'. This is a companion to my piece 'You Never Know'. You don't need to read it to understand this, but I recommend it as it gives a little more insight to Roma's story. (Plus it's my story – so R&R both!)

*****

"Stupid piece of . . ." Jondy kicked the car that had just broken down on her. She glared at the dent her foot had created and let loose a few more choice adjectives. This is what happens when you steal a useless piece of crap!

There was nothing for it, she was not going to get the car to start. She was going to have to walk. Out in the middle of nowhere, where almost no one travelled, several hours drive from the nearest civilisation and she had to walk.

So Jondy walked. And walked. Until finally her genetically engineered ears finally picked up the sound of a vehicle in the distance, maybe they would give her a ride. She stuck her thumb out and the bike shot past. About to let out another string of curses, she was surprised to see the rider slow and come to a stop a little way down from her. Jondy jogged to where the rider waited.

Astride the bike sat a slender girl about the same age as Jondy. There were a few stray wisps of red hair escaping from underneath a blue and green tie-dyed scarf, obviously used as an attempt at control. When she removed her dark glasses Jondy could see she had bright green eyes that sparkled and a ready smile.

"That your car back there?"

"In a way."

"Need a ride then?"

"If you're offering."

"Hop on." The girl's grin broadened. Jondy figured what the hell – it was not like anyone else had driven by in the last couple of hours. So she hopped on, held on, and tried to figure out why the girl was just so damn familiar.

Motorbikes are not exactly designed for in depth conversation so they drove through the endless terrain without talking, for nearly an hour and a half before the girl pulled her bike into a parking lot with a sign that read 'FOOD' 'BEDS'.

"Hey, I'm starved. Mind if we stop for a while."

"Sure." It was her bike, besides Jondy could do with something to eat as well.

"Great. Let's go."

They wandered up the steps and into the rundown building. It was dim inside and Jondy took in the threadbare carpet, which could have been green; the old, mismatched furniture and the chipped, painted walls, an odd, greyish blue. It had obviously been set up post-pulse as a way at making money when other sources failed. However, to give the place credit – it was clean.

"You girls looking for a room, or just a meal?" The woman who came through a door on the other side of the foyer/dining room had greying blonde hair and a tired face, but she seemed friendly enough.

"Just a meal. Unless of course," she grinned over at Jondy, "You want to stay here. I'm heading back into the city but you could always walk there."

"A meal will be fine."

"There's no choice for a food, same thing as always. Chicken burger and fries. Can't promise real chicken, but it's filing. Take a seat over there." The woman indicated a couple of tables with mismatched chairs.

"Do you have a restroom?" Jondy's benefactor asked of the woman.

"That way. Don't mind the cockroaches, they don't bite. Hard."

"Not as hard as me anyway." The girl threw over her shoulder as she pushed the door to the restroom open, disappearing in.

"Take a seat, dear, food'll be a while." She disappeared back through the door she had originally come through. Left alone, Jondy decided to take her advice and stop cluttering up the door – not that anyone was lining up to get in – and sit down.

A couple of minutes later the door to the restroom opened and out came the girl. She had removed the scarf from around her head and her long red hair tumbled to midway down her back. She sat and grinned once again. She did that entirely too much for Jondy's taste.

"So do you have a name, or do you prefer 'mysterious-stranger-who-I-picked-up-miles-from-anywhere'?"

"Uh, Jondy." She was not sure why she gave her real name, but already despite the girl's overly cheerfulness, Jondy was beginning to trust her, which in itself was frightening.

"Jondy, eh?" Something flashed through the girls eyes before she lifted an eyebrow, "Any particular reason your mother gave you such an unusual name?"

"Who said my mother named me? I suppose your mother gave you a _normal_ name like Kate or Sarah or Anna or something?"

"My mother did not give me a name. I named myself, as did my brothers and sisters. I go by Roma."

"Roma!" Jondy was shocked, no wonder the girl reminded her of someone. The red hair, the green eyes. Back then, even their shaven heads could not hide the brilliance of Roma's hair. But she remembered Roma as being a solemn child, not this grinning loon in front of her.

"Hey, sis."

Jondy opened and shut her mouth a few times, while Roma sat on the other side of the table, grinning at her. Just then their food arrived.

"There you go. Enjoy." The woman disappeared back into the other room.

"You knew!" Jondy finally managed to get out.

But Roma shook her head, "No. I wondered, but until you told me your name . . . It's so good to see you. I missed you." Roma's eyes glistened slightly.

"I know what you mean. When Zack told me he had found you after ten years, I almost fell off my chair."

"With our DNA, I would have thought that was impossible."

"He said you made eleven, excluding Brin."

"Brin?"

Jondy closed her eyes. Roma did not know. "They took her back. Zack didn't tell me the details, but when I saw him last he said that Lydecker got her back."

"He took her back?" Roma's voice was strangled, "After all these years? Oh Hell."

"If you don't know about Brin then I assume you haven't seen Zack recently?"

"Last time was about five weeks ago."

"She got sick. There's something we're susceptible too, apparently. A quick aging thing, or something. She was dying and she chose to go back. It was the only way for her to survive."

Roma shook her head apparently at a loss for words. Jondy could relate, she took the news similarly. Roma lowered her head closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, then lifted her eyes to meet Jondy's and Jondy finally saw the sister she remembered.

Solemn knowing eyes. Eyes that had seen too much too young. Eyes that looked back at Jondy every morning in the mirror. The sister who had been at Manticore with her. One of the twelve who had made it out that night. One of the eleven who were still out there.

Wait a second. Eleven. Excluding Brin. Jondy ran through a list of names of the X5s who escaped. She could only come up with eleven. Including Brin.

"Jondy? You OK?" Roma's eyes were now tinged with concern for her sister.

"What has Zack told you about who escaped that night?"

"Not a lot. Why?"

"I can only come up with eleven, including Brin. Yet twelve escaped. I was stupid not to have realised it before." Jondy sighed in frustration; she was trained to pick up inconsistencies like this, dammit! She ran through the names for Roma, who nodded at each one.

"That leaves a few options."

"Yeah. I know I would be glad no matter who it was, but I kinda wish it was Max." Jondy and Max had been close back at Manticore, closer than was usual, even for the X5s. She had also always felt guilty about leaving Max after she fell through the ice that night.

"There's a good chance. I mean even taking into consideration her seizure, I would have said that along with you and Zack she would have been one of the most likely to escape."

Jondy shook her head, "That night, after we separated she fell through some thin ice. I had to leave her because they came."

"Then there's even more of a chance that they didn't get her. They were moving so fast, trying to get as many of us as they could. They would have passed over very quickly, maybe giving her enough time to escape." Roma's voice was steady, but her eyes were sad. So much happened that night. "She'll be alright, Jondy, come on – this is Max we're talking about!"

Jondy managed a weak smile. "Yeah. But you were another one I thought would have made it out that night. I mean you could lose a tail, like no-one else could!"

"That's just it. My strength was stealth, and they weren't trying to sneak up on us. By the time we reached the perimeter, they wanted us stopped – not necessarily caught. I could hear them coming after me so I climbed a tree. I'm not sure why, but you couldn't see me unless you looked up from directly underneath. A soldier looked up though, and saw me. He saw me and he didn't tell anyone. He could have been killed, but he saved me that night. He's the only reason I got out." She was obviously confused, they had spent years hating those who had kept them prisoner and one had helped her escape, sort of. Made you wonder.

Roma ran a hand through her red hair. It was only then that Jondy noticed that fine tremors running through her sister's body. Trembling Max had once shown Jondy, her eyes wide with fear. Jondy drew in a sharp breath. It was one thing to deal with your own, but to see someone else go through it – that hurt. The funny thing was Roma did not appear to notice. "Roma. You're having a seizure." 

TBC

A/N2: So what did you think? Tell me about it! Will post the rest soon I promise. BTW I just saw Pollo Loco. Wow.

   [1]: mailto:kazzy@whoever.com



	2. Part Two

Title: Hitchhiking

Title: Hitchhiking

Author: Kazzy

Email: [kazzy@whoever.com][1]

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Cold Comfort

Summary: Jondy meets a not-so-stranger on the road. *AU* (Companion to 'You never Know' [Roma story])

Disclaimer: I don't own Zack, Max, Jondy, Lydecker, Brin or Jack. Wish I did, but as my mum says 'life isn't fair'. So don't sue, coz if life were fair I would have created these loverly characters myself and I would be very rich; as it is, I didn't and I'm not. Roma is mine, and she ain't making money either. I babble too much.

A/N: Here it is Part Two. I eventually want to repost this whole thing as one only chapter, but I could get it out faster if I did it as two parts. So that's why it is two chapters for now. Someone asked about when it takes place, my thought is somewhere between 'Cold Comfort' and 'Blah Blah Woof Woof'. It also slips into my other fic, 'You Never Know'.

*****

Roma looked at her hands, "Oh yeah. I didn't notice." She fumbled in her pockets and brought out a bottle of Tryptophan. Jondy was bemused at Roma's actions. Sure they got seizures – it happened – but Roma seemed a little too blasé about the whole thing. Watching as Roma swallowed a handful of pills, Jondy stood.

"I'm going to get some milk for you, and a room for a few hours."

Roma tilted her head back, eyes closed. "Whatever."

Tapping on the door slightly, Jondy walked through. On the other side there was a small kitchen and a living room. The woman from before was in there reading. "Hi, I'm sorry, but can we have some milk, and a room for a few hours, my sister needs some rest." Jondy got a small thrill at the words 'my sister' but that was secondary to her worry.

Once in the room, Roma collapsed on one of the sagging beds, shaking. Jondy hovered nervously, although undoubtedly Roma had dealt with this hundreds of times before.

"Don't look so worried, sis, I'm fine really. It isn't even that bad. It's not like we don't have to deal with this on a regular basis." She echoed Jondy's earlier thought.

"Still." Jondy could not forget that they had taken Jack away, or that they had tried to take Max, for the very same seizures.

"Tell me about your life. I missed you all so much." So for nearly an hour, while Roma lay on the bed convulsing, Jondy talked.

Eventually Roma sat up and managed a weak grin, her eyes beginning to sparkle again, "You really did that? On a bike?"

"Yep."

"Crazy, crazy person. I gotta give it a try some time." This time Jondy laughed with her sister. Then frowned as Roma's expression changed.

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering what Zack's told you about Seattle."

Jondy blinked, "I don't think it's ever come up. I don't head northwest very often, or ever really. To close to Manticore. What?" Roma's grin had returned, full-force.

"I lived in Montana for nearly ten years, Jondy. Less than a day's trip from Manticore."

"Oh, you're kidding me! And you called me crazy! Lydecker'd have a fit if he knew you were so close. Anyway, what were you saying about Seattle?"

"Only that Zack's told me not to go there. He'll only tell me it's because Lydecker's been sniffing 'round there a lot. I get the feeling that's not the only reason, though. I sort feel like there's something he doesn't want me to know about," she shook her head, "I don't know, I'm probably looking to deep and this is Zack we're talking about."

Jondy shrugged. It was possible that Roma was looking too deep, but privately she doubted it. In the time spent at Manticore they had developed good instincts. If Roma thought she sensed something, then chances were that she did. Besides Jondy could not stop the odd feeling, that perhaps there was more to Seattle that Zack had told Roma.

" So what are you going to do? Go to Seattle to see what's up?"

"What do you think I am? Stupid? No don't answer that one. I'm not going there. Not if Lydecker's there. Still Washington's only a couple of states over from Montana. I'm not supposed to go back, but . . ." Roma's voice trailed off.

"You want to go home." Jondy understood. It was so hard, leaving behind friends – lovers, and Roma had been in the same place for nearly ten years. Which was, in actual fact, longer than she had been at Manticore. The youngest of X5, Roma had been barely eight years old when they escaped. She had left behind people who were probably as much family as her brothers and sisters from Manticore.

The two girl met eyes. Then without knowing how, they embraced. Jondy felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks. When she pulled back she could see that Roma was crying too. 

"Look at us, a pair of first rate Manticore soldiers and we're bawling like babies." Roma said 

"I won't tell Lydecker, if you don't."

Roma laughed, with slightly brittle edge to it, "That's pretty much a given, isn't it?"

"Are you OK to go? Not that I'm in a hurry to go or anything, but . . ." The sooner they left, the sooner they had to separate. Jondy did not want that, but training was still part of who you were. There was no problem with staying in one place, but after a while you got used to picking places that were safest. This was not a safe place to stay.

"I'm fine." She glanced out the window. "If we leave now, we should make it to the city before dark. That is where you're headed, isn't it?"

Jondy nodded. "Then where?"

"I'm going south-west."

"What's south-west?"

"Historical spots. Gotta love them. Maybe Roswell, New Mexico. You know, where the aliens supposedly landed in 1947? I figure if they really did land arrive here, then that makes us just that much more normal. I don't know if there is anything there, but I like to visit historical spots, even if there's nothing left of them. Just thinking about stuff that happened and what people were like. You ever notice that the stuff we studied at Manticore, history or whatever, it wasn't about _the people_. I only regret that I couldn't see more of Montana. I completely wasted that one, and there's these great battle sites there."

"Uh-huh. Right." Completely non-plussed Jondy gestured her sister out of the room. "Historical spots. We're on the run from a man who will stop at nothing to get us back to hell, and you're playing tourist?"

Roma's lips twitched and she patted Jondy's arm as they walked out into the main room, "It's OK dear, you'll understand one day." Jondy just shook her head.

The woman was sitting at a desk in the main room. "You two leaving already?"

"Yep. Wandering feet. Runs in the family." Jondy could not help but snicker at Roma's comment.

"Can we have some more milk please?" She asked the woman.

Roma glared, "I hate milk."

"You gotta drink it, for healthy teeth and bones, or whatever."

They both drank up, Roma making faces for Jondy's benefit. She appeared to be making up for all the years she had not been able to be a brat. Then settling the bill, they left with the woman giving them a few odd glances. Jondy hoped they had not made too stronger an impression.

The trip into the city was as quiet as their previous ride, but Jondy did not mind. It was nice to be around another X5 who was not worrying solely about moving her away from 'danger' all the time and leaving her with barely a word, like certain people she could think of. Once in the city they spent a day wandering the bustling post-pulse streets, talking, before splitting up. 

As much as they would have liked to and Jondy could see Roma missed their family as much as she did they could not stay together. Jondy was going to stay in the city a few more days, before leaving and Roma was headed south. South. Despite what she had said the day before. A simple precautionary measure. When Jondy realized she shook her head – Roma seemed to inspire a lot of that. Their farewell was brief and tearless. It may have taken more than ten years to see each other again, but it was a promise. They would see each other again; they would all see each other again one day. 

Jondy thought about where she was going next. Seattle? Her grin was feral; maybe Roma was not the only one who needed to make up for not being a brat all those years. Zack had not told her not to go to Seattle. She eventually settled on California. She would decide where, when she got there. Now what about transport . . .

A/N2: What do you think? This is a lot longer than I thought it would be. It is also different from what I thought it would be. More Roma stories on the way, now that I started to write about her she won't go away. lol. At least one of those stories will have Zack in it, as a major character. What? Not have Zack? You must be kidding me. He's such a deliciously complex character. How could I not?

   [1]: mailto:kazzy@whoever.com



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